Article via Psychology Today.

Looking for help with handwriting? Our after school group starts March 27.

Have you ever tried to read your physician’s prescriptions? Children increasingly print their writing because they don’t know cursive or theirs is simply unreadable. I have a middle-school grandson who has trouble reading his own cursive. Grandparents may find that their grandchildren can’t even read the notes they send. Our new U.S. Secretary of the Treasury can’t (or won’t) write his own name on the new money being printed.

When we adults went to school, one of the first things we learned was how to write the alphabet, in caps and lower case, and then to hand-write words, sentences, paragraphs, and essays. Some of us were lucky enough to have penmanship class where we learned how to make our writing pretty and readable. Today, keyboarding is in. The Common Core Standards no longer require elementary students to learn cursive, and some schools are dropping the teaching of cursive entirely, dismissing it as an “ancient skill.”[1]

The primary schools that teach handwriting spend only just over an hour a week, according to Zaner-Bloser Inc., one of the nation’s largest handwriting-curriculum publishers. Cursive is not generally taught after the third grade (my penmanship class was in the 7th grade; maybe its just coincidence, but the 7th grade was when I was magically transformed from a poor student into an exceptional student).

Yet scientists are discovering that learning cursive is an important tool for cognitive development, particularly in training the brain to learn “functional specialization”[2]—that is, the capacity for optimal efficiency. In the case of learning cursive writing, the brain develops functional specialization that integrates both sensation, movement control, and thinking. Brain imaging studies reveal that multiple areas of brain become co-activated during the learning of cursive writing of pseudo-letters, as opposed to typing or just visual practice.

There is a spill-over benefit for thinking skills used in reading and writing. To write legible cursive, fine motor control is needed over the fingers. You have to pay attention and think about what and how you are doing it. You have to practice. Brain imaging studies show that cursive activates areas of the brain that do not participate in keyboarding.

Much of the benefit of handwriting in general comes simply from the self-generated mechanics of drawing letters. In one Indiana University study,[3] researchers conducted brain scans on pre-literate 5-year olds before and after receiving different letter-learning instruction. In children who had practiced self-generated printing by hand, the neural activity was far more enhanced and “adult-like” than in those who had simply looked at letters. The brain’s “reading circuit” of linked regions that are activated during reading was activated during hand writing, but not during typing. This lab has also demonstrated that writing letters in meaningful context, as opposed to just writing them as drawing objects, produced much more robust activation of many areas in both hemispheres.

In learning to write by hand, even if it is just printing, the brain must:

• Locate each stroke relative to other strokes.
• Learn and remember appropriate size, slant of global form, and feature detail characteristic of each letter.
• Develop categorization skills.

Cursive writing, compared to printing, should be even more beneficial because the movement tasks are more demanding, the letters are less stereotypical, and the visual recognition requirements create a broader repertoire of letter representation. Cursive is also faster and more likely to engage students by providing a better sense of personal style and ownership.

Other research highlights the hand’s unique relationship with the brain when it comes to composing thoughts and ideas. Virginia Berninger, a professor at the University of Washington, reported her study of children in grades two, four and six that revealed they wrote more words, faster, and expressed more ideas when writing essays by hand versus with a keyboard.[4]

There is a whole field of research known as “haptics,” which includes the interactions of touch, hand movements, and brain function.[5] Cursive writing helps train the brain to integrate visual, and tactile information, and fine motor dexterity. School systems, driven by ill-informed ideologues and federal mandate, are becoming obsessed with testing knowledge at the expense of training kids to develop better capacity for acquiring knowledge.

The benefits to brain development are similar to what you get with learning to play a musical instrument. Not everybody can afford music lessons, but everybody has access to pencil and paper. Not everybody can afford a computer for their kids—but maybe such kids are not as deprived as we would think.

Take heart: Some schools celebrated National Handwriting Day on January 23. Cursive is not dead yet. We need to insist that it be maintained in our schools.

About the Author: William Klemm, Ph.D., is a senior professor of Neuroscience at Texas A&M University. He is the author of 20 books, including: The Learning Skills Cycle. A Way to Rethink Educational Reform (Rowman & Littlefield); Making a Scientific Case for Conscious Agency and Free Will (Academic Press); Mental Biology(Prometheus); Core Ideas in Neuroscience (Smashwords.com); Memory Power 101(Skyhorse); and Improve Your Memory for a Healthy Brain (Smashwords.com).

Sensations: Too Much, Too Confusing, or Not Enough?

Sensory Processing Disorder appears in a variety of ways.

Posted Nov 27, 2018

What is the matter with Mary Jane?
She’s crying with all her might and main,
And she won’t eat her dinner—rice pudding again—
What is the matter with Mary Jane?

A.A. Milne’s poem about miserable Mary Jane used to mystify me. As a child, I knew that not everyone loves rice pudding, but I wondered why she was having a tantrum. Couldn’t she say, “No, thank you,” and then just get over it?

Now that my older eyes are open, I’m more sympathetic. Evidently, Mary Jane can’t communicate to her grownups that she hates rice pudding.  Maybe she’s two, so she behaves like a two-year-old. Maybe she is full. Or—what is now my go-to answer—maybe she has Sensory Processing Disorder(SPD), which makes “just getting over it,” all by herself, difficult or even impossible.

Like Mary Jane, some children withdraw not only from grainy or odd-textured food, but also from physical contact. They may refuse to participate in experiences that other kids enjoy, communicate ineffectively, and respond in unusual ways to ordinary sensations of touch, movement, sight, sound, smell, and taste. These kids may have SPD, so they don’t behave as we expect—not because they won’t, but because they can’t.

SPD is real—and it’s common, affecting about 17 percent of children and adults. SPD begins as a physical condition but may later develop into a psychological condition; if underlying sensory issues are ignored, a little kid often begins to feel shame, low confidence, rage, and loneliness.

Sensory processing is what everyone does, all day. Sensory messages come in through receptors near the surface of, and deep within, the body—the skin, eyes, nose, mouth, outer ear, inner ear, muscles and joints, and internal organs.

For a typical person, the central nervous system efficiently processes the incoming sensory information so she can use it to yank her hand from a scorching frying pan, pull the right boot onto the right foot, or catch herself before she trips.

But for an atypical, “out-of-sync” person with SPD, an inefficient central nervous system garbles sensory messages—meaning that he can’t use them to function smoothly in daily life. He burns his hand on the pan handle; he mismatches his boots and feet; he stumbles and falls.

The most common and easily observed SPD issue is over-responsivity.  Over-responsive kids may be provoked by an unexpected touch, lumpy sock, speed bump, siren, fluorescent light, scented crayon, rice pudding, and so forth.

But though this is SPD’s most common outward presentation, not everyone with the condition has over-responsivity. In fact, children or adults with SPD may not be bothered by sensations at all and may seek more, not less stimulation. Many of these individuals have less obvious types of SPD—these can look like ADHD, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, or other psychological issues in the DSM-V.

What is the matter with Mary Jane? SPD may be—or it may be exacerbating—the main problem. Put on imaginary “sensory spectacles” to examine the situation and ask yourself, “What sensations are too much, or too confusing, or not enough?”

Here are possible reasons for Mary Jane’s behavior:

• Sensory over-responsivity. Sensations threaten her. She sees and smells the dessert and anticipates how disgusting it will feel and taste in her mouth. Her sensory systems say, “If you eat it, you’ll die.”
• Poor sensory discrimination. Sensations confuse her. She may be unable to discern textural differences between grainy rice and smooth pudding in her mouth. Even if she likes the flavor, rice pudding may make her gag.
• Sensory craving. Ordinary sensations are insufficient. She needs constant, intense sensory input. Pudding is not the problem; inactivity is. Today, she hasn’t played outdoors enough, and her body yearns for sensory-motor activity. She may feel as though she cannot sit still a minute longer.

What helps? If, through your sensory spectacles, you see that Mary Jane is overwhelmed, then lower the sensory load. Replace the offending food with one she likes so she will stay peacefully at the table. Or, if you see that she is fidgety and craves movement, then raise the sensory load. Let her go jump rope, stretch an exercise band, dance to music, or hang from a chin-up bar.

If Mary Jane’s behavior is frequently out-of-sync at school, at home, and out and about, it may be necessary to have an occupational therapist who uses a sensory integration approach evaluate the child. Insisting that she eat rice pudding will never work; addressing her sensory processing challenges with understanding and appropriate treatment will.

Carol Stock Kranowitz is an internationally-recognized expert on sensory processing disorder, or SPD. She is the author of the “Sync” series, which began with the acclaimed The Out-of-Sync-Child.

In Print:

The Out-of-Sync Child: Recognizing and Coping with Sensory Processing Disorder (The Out-of-Sync Child Series)

Online: Out-of-Sync Child

Recognize that one of the most important purposes of play with toys, especially in infancy, is not educational but rather to facilitate warm, supportive interactions and relationships.

Simpler toys tend to be better for kids’ developmentally and will have more longevity than flashy, electronic toys. Look for toys that promote creativity and imagination. A toy that has one purpose will grow old quick, but something like a wooden block set can have many uses.

Some of the toys and games that are perennial favorites at Solaris include:

• Finger putty such as Crazy Aaron’s
• Play-doh
• Modeling Foam
• Kinetic sand
• Legos / Duplo
• Don’t break the ice
• Giggle Wiggle
• What’s in Ned’s Head
• Beanie babies (great for symbolic play)
• Balls
• Bubbles
• Puzzles
• Zoom ball
• Mini trampoline

Further reading:

Selecting Appropriate Toys for Young Children in the Digital Era

Toy Buying Tips for Babies & Young Children

How Play Connects To Learning

Growing evidence suggests that a segment of children with ADHD are misdiagnosed and actually suffer from insufficient sleep, insomnia, obstructed breathing or another known sleep disorder. But the most paradigm-challenging idea may be that ADHD may itself be a sleep disorder. If correct, this idea could fundamentally change the way ADHD is studied and treated.

What makes young children behave in a pro-social way — taking actions that help others and benefit the group?

Babies that were moved in synchrony with a partner and to the beat of a music demonstrated more signs of social connection than a baby who didn’t.

The study also looked at the effect of lullabies on the moms who sang them. The lullaby calmed down the baby, but it also calmed down the mom who sang them.

The importance of play for children is well documented. Now researchers are turning their attention to its possible benefits for adults. What they’re finding is that play isn’t just about goofing off; it can also be an important means of reducing stress and contributing to overall well-being.

“What all play has in common,” Brown says, “is that it offers a sense of engagement and pleasure, takes the player out of a sense of time and place, and the experience of doing it is more important than the outcome.”

Read more here.

Ideal candidates will have the following qualities:

• eager to learn new therapuetic techniques and approaches
• adopts a holistic, whole child approach in their treatment strategies
• works collaboratively with other therapists and the families they work with
• friendly, caring and fun

Here is his mom’s story:

Hello! My name is Natalie Palin, and our four-year-old son Jackson was born with Trisomy 21, more commonly known as Down syndrome. We have been so lucky to receive therapy at Solaris now for over a year!

 

Minutes after Jackson was born and before I had even had a chance to hold him, a doctor turned to us and said, “I hope I am wrong, but your son is exhibiting several characteristics of Trisomy 21.”

 

Since we had had a negative prenatal test, to say we were shocked would be an understatement. Thankfully, I was quickly connected to an organization named Down Syndrome Diagnosis Network (DSDN), and it has made all the difference on our journey. The short video linked below explains more about DSDN and the important work it strives to accomplish.

 

No parent should be left to feel as alone and scared as we felt after the doctor’s poor choice of words during Jackson’s diagnosis. Today Jackson is healthy, happy, and thriving. The extra copy of the 21st chromosome that causes Down syndrome does make some things more difficult for him, but love, laughter, and happiness are not on that list. Our mission as parents is to continue to show the world how Jackson is more alike his typical peers than different.

 

Thank you for considering to participate in our Jeans4Genes campaign. Your support for Jackson and his peers means so much!

 

Natalie S. Palin
Rockin’ Mom since 2014 (because Jackson rocks his extra chromosome)

 
To support DSDN and families like the Palin’s please donate here.

Here is the video link to learn more about DSDN.